Competing thermal relaxation processes in response to intrinsic defects produced by exposing SiO2 to synchrotron radiation

Irradiation of SiO₂ with soft X-ray photons (hν>100 eV) produces a variety of defects, of which E₁′ centers and neutral Si–Si bonds are mainly responsible for the dielectric response change. The thermal processes that modify the structures around the defect sites have been investigated by in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry. Annealing the irradiated SiO₂ film diminishes the number of defects which are assigned to E₁′ centers by about half. The competing channels for annihilation of E₁′ centers are the recovery of the Si–O–Si bonding configuration and, in the opposite direction, the decomposition of the material into volatile products until the network is completely restructured. The other half of the defects are converted to Si–Si bond units and precipitates as nanocrystalline particles of Si.